RIO BRAVO, Tamaulipas — Gunmen with the Gulf Cartel kidnapped, humiliated, and beheaded three of their rivals as a warning. The triple execution is indicative of the ongoing war between rival Gulf Cartel factions for local control of the border.

MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — Education officials in the border cities of this state minimized the cartel violence experienced by local residents as convoys of gunmen fight in armored SUVs with machine guns and grenade launchers near schools.

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — The raging war for control of this border city continues as large scale gun battles, blockades, and terror spread over the weekend. The fighting is tied to a long-standing factional struggle for territorial control within the Gulf Cartel.

For more than two years, a gas station in this border city worked as a front for the sale of fuel allegedly stolen by Mexico’s Gulf Cartel. State and federal authorities raided the business after an investigation revealed that, since June 2015, the gas station had not been buying gasoline from Mexican Petroleum (PEMEX), the entity in Mexico that controls all of the extraction, refining, and sale of fuel in the country.

RIO BRAVO, Tamaulipas — The horrors of the cartel war in this border city have once again been revealed with the discovery of a new mass grave. The find comes at a time when rival groups from the Gulf Cartel wage war for control of the region–leading to more than 158 deaths through gun battles, executions, and disappearances in Reynosa.

MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — A series of recent gun battles and executions in this border city and in Rio Bravo led to nearly a dozen deaths as clashes with military forces and internal turmoil within the Gulf Cartel is reaching a boiling point.

RIO BRAVO, Tamaulipas — Machine gunfire and rolling battles along the main avenues of this city spread terror among townspeople who tried to hide inside homes and businesses. Stray bullets went through the walls of some houses.

RIO BRAVO, Tamaulipas — One of the leading commanders within the faction of the Gulf Cartel that controls this border city was apprehended by Mexican federal authorities but was suspiciously released days later.